Dkyibtg cloth



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

R. L. HAWES, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

DRYING CLOTH.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,748, dated October 3, 1854.

To all whom. may concern x Be it known that I, R. L. HAwEs, of Ton cester, in the county of Worcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Drying lVoolen Goods, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the annexed drawings, in which- Figure l is a plan of the machine. Fig. 2 a section through the same upon the line A, A of Fig. l.

Broadcloths and other woolen goods which are dressed after being fulled require to be stretched both lengthwise and crosswise, and to be left of a uniform width throughout. This has been heretofore accomplished by stretching the goods upon frames on which they were exposed to the open air, while drying; this process however requires more space and time than can always be alorded for the purpose, and a more rapid method of drying such goods has long been a desideratum. Cylinders heated by steam, over which the goods were run, have been employed for the purpose, and thus they were rapidly dried and su'tciently stretched lengthwise,

` but it was found that when thus dried they were not of uniform width throughout, and the machines were consequently discarded. Endless chains of tenter hooks were then employed, by which the goods were stretched and evened, and which carried them over the surface of heated steam tubes; it was not however found practicable to dry them rapidly by simply dragging them over the surface of these tubes, and this plan has consequently not succeeded. To remedy the imperfect action of these machines, and to produce one that shall rapidly dry, and at the same time stretch the cloth both longitudinally and transversely, and leave it of a` constant and uniform width, is the object of my present invention which consists in the application of two hoops to the surface of a drying cylinder, the hoops being furnished with teeth upon which the cloth is stretched, and made adjustable nearer or farther apart upon the surface of the cylinder to accommodate different widths of cloth.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe the method which I have adopted of carrying it out.

A is a steam drying cylinder of ordinary construction, the steam being admitted to and discharged from the cylinder at the center as usual. This cylinder is made to revolve slowly in any appropriate manner.

B, B, are metallic rings or hoops, which are furnished with points upon which the cloth is stretched by the attendant. These rings are secured to the surface of the cylinder by ears and screws as seen at c; by loosening these screws the rings may be set at such distance from each other as to accommo date the width of the cloth to be operated upon.

To facilitate the operation of drying, the nap is laid fiat while the process is going on by means of the revolving brush C, which presses the moist fibers down upon the surface of the cloth, which is thus made to dry more rapidly, the surface of the cloth being left in a better condition for the final dressing.

Operation: The cloth enters the machine at d, over the roller f suiicient drag being put upon it before it reaches this point to bind the cloth firmly upon the drying cylinder, at g it is caught upon the points b by the attendant and is thus uniformly stretched both lengthwise and crosswise. Having passed around nearly a whole revolution with the cylinder it is taken of therefrom by the roller L whence it is led off from the machine. The goods are thus expeditiously dried and are left of a uniform and unvarying width.

Having thus fully described the nature of my invention, I would state that I am aware that woolen and other goo-ds have been stretched and dried, by endless chains of tenter hoo-ks passing around a drying cylinder-said endless chains approaching and receding from each other by means of cams, slides, etc., which makes such machine both intricate and expensive. This I do not claim, but

That I do claim as of my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the steam cylinder with the hoops of tenter hooks, when said hoops, after being adjusted to any desired width of cloth, on the cylinder, shall move" with and have no motion independent of said cylinder, substantially in the manner described.

R, L. HAWES. Vitnesses:

GEO. M. RICE, E. A. GODDARD, 

